Adrift
by willynilly23
Summary: If I wrote episode 508 this would definitely be in it, but since it probably won't be I am writing it for myself.
1. Chapter 1

Adrift P1

Note: I have no hope that this will actually happen next week, but if I wrote next week's episode this would be in it…

***555***

Auggie stood when he heard the door open. He had reassured Annie that they were a team no matter what, but he had a feeling that teamwork was not going to be within the halls of Langley after the meeting.

"Annie?" he asked, his voice cracked.

"I need to leave," she said, her own voice watery.

He just sighed.

"Now," was all she got out.

"OK, let's go."

She was going to argue with him, he was going to be in trouble when Joan got her hands on him. Annie had not revealed Auggie's part in the cover-up, but she could tell Calder and Joan had every idea how she managed to get those hospital records changed. She didn't want to risk getting him in more trouble by pulling him out of work at 2:00 in the afternoon, but she needed him.

"Thanks," she said quietly and brushed her hand against his, giving him her arm.

"Ms. Walker," a security officer appeared out of nowhere with a box.

Annie didn't have much in her desk having really just come back, the few items rattled around in the box hollowly. She reached for it, awkward with Auggie at her elbow and tucked it under her free arm. Auggie could feel her tremble.

"Can you drive?" he whispered.

"Yeah," she nodded and swallowed her tears.

Once in the car she had no idea where to go. Calder said she could have a week to get out of the apartment she was in, but a sweep team would be there today as a full investigation was underway thanks to Hayley Price.

"Where are we?" Auggie asked as she slowed to a stop and threw the car in park.

"A hotel," she said quietly.

"You don't have to stay in a hotel," he frowned.

"Your girlfriend has a sweep team at my place.'

"She's not my girlfriend. Come on, let's go to my place."

"Your other girlfriend is there, pretty sure Tash wants nothing to do with me," Annie said harsher than intended, she actually really liked Tash.

"Tash is gone," Auggie said, not nearly as sad as Annie thought he would be.

Truthfully Annie wasn't surprised, Tash never stayed in one place long.

"I'm sorry about that," she said, trying for sincere but falling short.

Auggie just laughed.

"Wow," Annie gripped the steering wheel as the valet finally appeared, "how did we end up like this?"

Auggie didn't have a chance to answer as his door was suddenly flung open and he could tell the hotel attendant was surprised to find a blind man in the passenger seat.

"Let's have lunch first and decide on a plan after we eat," Auggie reasoned.

"OK," Annie nodded.

Once seated in the hotel wine bar, Annie realized she was starving. She had picked a red wine served by the glass but at the last minute told the waiter to bring the bottle. She ordered salad and soup and a fish entrée that had fennel, she loved fennel. Auggie tried to keep up.

"I haven't had a real meal in a week," she admitted self-consciously.

"McQuaid didn't treat you Azerbaijan's finest?" Auggie raised an eyebrow and she laughed.

"No, it was funny how little appetite we had after evading a drone strike," she blew out a shaky breath, too much in too few days.

"I was so worried Annie. I knew the protocol was for you to call if something was wrong, but I just sensed something was wrong," he shook his head.

"I'm sorry about Mueller," Annie reached out and covered Auggie's hand with her own.

He just nodded, it had been a rough year for Auggie's former colleagues.

"If it matters, your name meant something to him, when I mentioned you he almost cracked. I think we could have turned him, or gotten something from him," she was whispering quickly.

"They'll be something on the hardware," Auggie noticed her hand still on his.

He wanted to tell her about Roger's intel as well, but she needed to decompress first and technically she was unemployed at the moment. Luckily the wine arrived before he had to fill a silence.

"This is good, you want some of this?" she offered him some fish and shuttled it on to his plate, stealing a beet from his side dish.

"I miss you Annie," he said it lightly, with a laugh, but she froze at the words.

"I want chocolate. You want chocolate?" she changed the subject quickly thinking ahead to dessert as she finished her entrée.

"Have I ever refused chocolate?" he grinned.

"Right. Let's have dessert," Annie nodded partially because she wanted dessert and partially because she was completely unsure what her next move was going to be after lunch.

"I don't usually have a 4 course lunch on a Wednesday, but this random hotel restaurant you dragged me too was quite good," Auggie smiled.

"Usually you eat a Power Bar at your desk and lunch should be the big meal of the day. Americans have made that dinner to go with our ridiculous work schedule, but now that I don't have a job I am going to start eating more European," she declared draining her 3rd glass of wine and pouring the end of the bottle herself before the waiter could cross the room to do it.

"So now what Walker?" his hand found her knee under the table and while that move in the past might have meant one thing at the moment it was simply meant to ground her.

"We should talk, I know we should Auggie and believe me I actually want to, but I am so tired," she sighed.

He knew she was tired in a variety of ways, but after everything in Azerbaijan he believed she was truly exhausted.

"OK, hang tight, I'll be right back," he stood and made his way back out to the lobby.

In a matter of minutes he had secured a room and had their lunch bill transferred over to the room charges, he tipped their waiter and returned to Annie' side.

"Let's go," he said.

"I don't think I can drive Auggie," she slurred slightly.

"It's OK, you wanted to stay here, we're going to stay here," he handed over the key pack.

Without another word Annie led them to the elevator bank, hit the up button and then the number 10. She navigated them down the twisted corridors to room 1020 and slipped the plastic card in the slot. The door lit green and she turned the handle. It was a typical city hotel room, small but neat with little but a giant bed in the middle of the room. She left Auggie at the main door and gave him the lay out, watched him walk the perimeter, map it in his head.

She slipped off her suit coat and her heels, placed them in the closet and then stretched out on the bed, rolled to her side. Without a single word Auggie repeated her actions, shoes and coat in the closet, vest as well. He emptied his pockets and found the bed, crawled across the great expanse of it to reach her.

Auggie slid one hand over her hip, flat against her stomach and pulled her body back against his chest, melded her to him, tangled their legs, he buried his nose in her hair and whispered against her ear.

"Sleep, Annie."

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Adrift P2

Annie woke a few hours later with her head on Auggie's chest, his fingers in her hair and for a moment she let herself remember their first morning in bed: his self-conscious comment 'so that happened', the delicious smell of his sleep-warm skin, the tender ache of her body. It wasn't morning though, they were both fully-dressed and any ache she felt was from jumping off a mountain in Azerbaijan. He did smell good though.

She pulled back slightly, tilted her head up to see the small smile on his otherwise pensive face.

"You OK?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Can't imagine you're rested you practically ran a marathon in your sleep, I had to hold you tighter to keep you from falling off," he frowned now, not relinquishing his hold on her.

"Too much wine with lunch," she laughed mirthlessly, 'frees up the subconscious and in my case that is dangerous."

She extricated herself reluctantly, but the need to pee outweighed the comfort she felt in Auggie's arms. He let her go, listened to her soft footfalls move across the room and smiled that she didn't bother closing the door. The water ran longer than necessary for her to wash her hands and he heard a small gasp as she splashed it on her face. Suddenly the air in the room changed as she reemerged.

"So, now what?" she asked nervously.

"What do you need Annie?"

"You."

"You have me. Always have. Always will."

"I know," she said, suspiciously emotional.

"I thought, well, I thought a lot of things Auggie. While I was gone, not just after Henry, but during, you know, when I was dark. I thought I could protect you, I thought I could keep you from all of this, keep you safe. It was the way I felt I could love you, even without being here," the words tumbled out uncensored.

He didn't say anything, he was clearly waiting for more.

"I began to buy into Helen's theory more and more, that you can't have love and do what we do, not the kind of love that we have, not the forever kind of love. Sure, we could love people, but we could never give ourselves, completely, you know. Never be truly free with them. I feel truly free when I am with you Auggie and that's dangerous, to you, to me."

Auggie noted the present tense of her love and her feelings.

"Annie…" a sigh of a word.

"Then when I found out I was sick I just couldn't bring you into it, I couldn't put you through that. The secrets and the cover up and the lies and the chance I might die, again. I was far away and it made it easy, there was actual physical distance between us, but even that failed. I need you Auggie, like air or water, I need you and when you are not near it hurts me. So I decided to come back. I decided on my stupid, no emotional attachments rule, to keep you as safe as I could. I took what I could without putting you at risk."

"Shouldn't I have had a say in my own risk?" he asked, gently.

"Yeah, but I knew what you would say, what you are going to say now. You are going to say that you don't care about the risk, that we are worth any risk…"

"We are…"

"We are," she agreed and he froze when she didn't argue.

"We are?"

"Are you questioning it now," she laughed.

"You agree?"

"I do."

"Then why the hell did you send Natasha back to me?" he scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Auggie, I could throw a hundred women at you and you would sleep with them all and maybe even fall in love with a few, but in the end…." She trailed off and gasped when she turned to find him standing right in front of her.

"In the end, you love me," she said firmly.

"Yeah, I do," he admitted, his hands found her shoulders.

"And knowing that is enough for me, most days, just knowing that love exists get me through."

"It's not enough," he whispered. "It could be so much more."

"Can it?"

"Annie, we have been through enough in the past 5 years, it has to stop some time," the last part was said with hesitance and he turned away from her.

"What is it?"

"I don't even want to tell you," he sighed.

"What?"

"Remember Roger?"

"He was hard to forget," Annie grinned.

"He called me, while you were on your way back from Azerbaijan. He said Mueller's network is deeper than the CIA thinks it is, that there are more attacks planned."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" she accused.

"You were busy eating and drinking all the things," he grinned. "And you needed to sleep."

"Have you brought this to Joan?"

"No, I walked in to your inquisition today."

"Can I have it?"

"What?"

"The intel, give it to me instead of the CIA."

"Annie…."

"I can work angles they can't. I already know most of the players involved, McQuaid would give me fire power and cash if I needed it…." She was already on to the next mission.

"If I give it to you, you work it with me, not on your own."

"Auggie…."

"I am probably unemployed too. Do you think for a second Joan and Calder don't know who covered up your medical records?"

"This. This right here is what I have been trying to avoid for years. Pulling you down with me."

"What if I want to be down with you? Wherever that is. I just want to be with you Annie. Barefoot in a morgue, breaking Eyal out of Amsterdam, bleeding in Medellin. I don't care where 'there' is Annie as long as we are there together."

"I love you."

"I know that," he assured her. "that I have not been doubting."

She kissed him then, gently at first and then desperately. He returned the kiss until his body demanded oxygen and he pulled her closer, breathing heavily against her neck.

"I don't want to push you away any more," she panted.

"Then don't."

When she had recovered her breath and her composure she stepped back, grinning at the pout that graced Auggie's face.

"Do you want to stay here or go home?" she asked and he knew she meant his home.

"We maybe should stay here, it is possible my bed still smells like Natasha," he shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"For the record, that is possibly the worst pick up line ever," she smiled.

"You sent her to me…." He tried to defend himself.

"I am going to go down to the car and get my bag. Order some room service, I am shockingly hungry again," she kissed his cheek and left him stunned in the hotel room.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Adrift P3/3

Notes: Thanks so much for the kind reviews.

***555***

Annie returned to the room, bag in hand, to find Auggie sitting at the end of the bed in his pants and tee shirt. She could see his dress shirt hung in the closet, to preserve it for tomorrow's walk of shame.

"I bought you a toothbrush," she rattled the plastic bag.

"What every man wants to hear after kissing the woman he loves for the first time in nearly a year," he smirked.

"Ha," Annie tossed the bag at him and he caught it deftly.

"I just ordered a light supper, since we are eating like Europeans now," he informed.

"Perfect. Do I have time for a shower?"

"I would think so, if not it will keep," he assured.

As Auggie heard the shower start up he retrieved his phone, not surprisingly he heard he had several messages from Joan. He powered the phone off, he deserved a night off. He flopped on the bed, kicking his feet up and crossing his ankles, the sounds and smells of Annie's shower washed over him as well. He wasn't quite asleep, but definitely not very alert when Annie sat at the edge of the bed, the mattress dipping slightly, and startled him.

"Sorry," she cooed and reached out to brush his hair back from his forehead.

"I was on another planet," he admitted.

Before she could ask why or which one Room Service arrived with a knock. As they ate sandwiches and drank more wine Auggie was quiet, but relaxed. Annie noticed a significant change in his body language, as if despite everything facing them he was completely carefree.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she said as she took the pickle from his plate, he never ate the pickle.

"Maybe it is someone else's turn," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, maybe I give this intel to Joan or McQuaid or even Hayley and we wash our hands of all of it and go to the Galapagos like I believe I suggested last year," he grinned.

"It is tempting and I certainly trust Joan and even Ryan to handle it," Auggie noticed Hayley wasn't on the short list for trust.

"But…" he led her.

"But, we started this and we should finish it. It started with Khalid and has wound its way around people from both our pasts. You know we can do this more efficiently and if there is something to stop we need to stop it," she was calm and rational and Auggie knew she was right.

He sighed, a deep tired resigned sigh.

"Tomorrow?" he squinted in hope.

"Tomorrow," she agreed.

"So, tonight…." He left that dangling.

"A wise man once told me that there is nothing certain for people like us. He was right and he was wrong. There is a lot of uncertainty and I don't know where this new intel will lead us, but tonight, tonight I am certain of one thing," Annie stood and walked around the small room service cart.

She placed a finger under Auggie's chin and tilted his head up to hers.

"Tonight, I am completely certain that I love you and I have missed you terribly," she kissed him.

He stood, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly, she was smaller than he remembered and without her shoes so much shorter than normal.

Once she started kissing him she had no intention of stopping, her hands lost in his hair. She could not get close enough to him, she was practically climbing him. He moaned deep in the back of his throat and she echoed it. She wrenched her mouth from his just long enough to find the button of his pants.

"Now," she growled before plunging her tongue into his mouth.

He turned them and was momentarily worried about missing the bed altogether in his lust-filled haze.

"Bed?" he asked desperately.

"Here," she backed him up to it and straddled his waist when he sat.

The shorts and tee shirt she put on after her shower had nothing under them and his hands found warm skin quickly.

"Is this?" he asked distractedly as he stripped the shirt from her body.

"Your favorite shirt? Yes," the final s was a sigh as his lips found her breast.

"I've had it with me, everywhere," she managed to get out between gasps.

"That is so sexy," he murmured against her skin.

It took a while to get all their clothes off as neither really wanted to stop kissing long enough to complete the task. Once her bare leg curled around his bare hip all reason nearly fled the room, but Annie stopped for a second.

"Auggie?" she asked as he seemed completely distracted by the fold of her elbow.

"Hmmmm….?" He replied and the vibration traveled along her arm straight to her heart.

"This is not an indictment, just a question, but have you been safe with Hayley and Tash?" she asked knowing they didn't need a condom for birth control reasons.

He stopped kissing her and she nearly regretted the question. His hand found her jaw, cupping it, pulling it close he kissed her gently.

"Yes, always," he assured her as she pulled his weight down on top of her.

"Thank God, cause I really didn't want to have to stop now," she grinned.

"Can you Annie? Should you?" he stopped suddenly and she was confused.

"I haven't been with anyone since you," she explained.

"No, I mean, this," he trailed a finger down her breast bone to her scars.

" I don't know. I haven't had sex since I was diagnosed and honestly I didn't even ask about it," she shrugged and she saw his face cloud with concern.

"Just be gentle," she teased.

"You're sure?" he asked.

He wouldn't have needed to ask if he could have seen the look of desire on her face.

"I'm sure," she communicated and guided his hand down her body to elucidate her words.

"Oh God," he groaned as he touched her.

Like their kisses, they started gently, but soon each was begging the other for more, a year of frustrated desire pouring out of them, crashing down in thrusts and arches.

"Auggie…." Annie ground out her legs trembling.

"Yeah," he nodded as he pulled her as close as he could.

This time when Annie woke with her head on his chest she could feel his sleep-warm skin under her cheek.

The End


End file.
